Zine mockups for Affinity V2 - A5 and Letter

IMPORTANT: these mockups are made for the V2 of the Affinity Suite, they won’t work if you try to open them with the V1.

Each file includes two top views of a booklet: its cover and a spread. In order to generate your own mockups, open the file in Affinity Photo (you can also use Publisher but the various buttons might not be in the same spot) and follow these steps:

1. First, start by saving your file. Since it’s a template, when you save for the first time, it will ask you to choose a folder to save your file in. Pick a folder, name your file and save.

2. In the "Layers" panel, expand the “Cover” or “Spread” group (make sure the one you want to work on is visible).

3. Scroll down until you find the layer named “REPLACE THIS”.

• In the “Spread” group, you need to expand the “Left page” and “Right page” groups to find it.

4. Then, with the “Move Tool” selected (shortcut V), click on “Replace image” in the tool bar.

5. Select your design, either as an image (JPG, PNG…) or as a PDF. 

• If you use a PDF, you can easily switch between pages and quickly generate multiple versions of the mock-up. With the “Move Tool” selected, click on the Artboard drop-down menu in the tool bar and select which page you want to display.

6. If you want to change the colour of the background gradient, with the “Move Tool” selected click on the bottom layer and then click on “Fill” in the tool bar. Change the colour and move the mid point as you want. You can also replace it with a background that has more texture or detail (although not too much, your design is the star of the show here!).

7. And voilà, your mock-up is ready for export!

A few notes:

• Almost all the layers are locked to make sure you don’t move anything around by mistake. But if you want to do so, simply click on the lock on the right of the layer to be able to move it around. You can also simply disable a layer if you don’t want it.
• If your page doesn’t look good or something feels off, try changing its blending mode to “Screen” or “Multiply” (drop down menu next to “Opacity” above the “Layers” panel).

Licence and attribution

These mockups are free to use for any project or purpose, personal or commercial. Attribution is not required but greatly appreciated.